Between 2016 and 2022, the number of papers indexed in major databases rose from 1.92 million to 2.82 million. The industry is estimated to generate more than US$19 billion annually. Some publishers report profit margins comparable to tech giants such as Microsoft and Google.

The open access movement was originally meant to make knowledge more widely available. However, major publishers including Wiley, Elsevier and Springer Nature saw it as a way to push their production costs onto authors – and earn extra money. When the highly prestigious journal Nature announced its open access option in 2021, it came with a per-article fee for authors of up to €9,500. At the other end of the spectrum, we find predatory journals that mimic legitimate open access outlets. But they charge fees without offering peer review or editorial oversight.

All of this is "enshrinification" (a term coined by Cory Doctorow in 2023) that is not limited to the online world and social networks. In fact, it is now prominent in academic publications, as a recent study published in the journal Organization suggests.

Source https://theconversation.com/the-5-stages-of-the-enshittification-of-academic-publishing-269714?fbclid=IwY2xjawPXtlBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEewHRiPktjBuQRFYy49BeVRo9cyVj-HhCI1C0u26mN7NMslyYHJKGAMQ_kt6U_aem_2QOF5grefRaUVpZShEdKGQ